Publications

Yoichi Ohira:A Phenomenon in Glass

by Rose Barovier Mentasti (Author), William Warmus (Author)
Yoichi Ohira is a Japanese glass artist who has been living and working in Venice for more than twenty-five years. After years of work combining the deep aesthetic tradition of Japan with the centuries-old techniques of Venetian glass-making, he burst onto the international scene with two highly successful gallery shows and is now regarded as one of the premier glass artists working today. His work is in the collection of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Craft Museum, and he has been exhibited alongside works by Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, Carlo Scarpa, Alvar Aalto, and others. This deluxe edition accompanies an exhibit of Ohira's work in the fall of 2002. It includes more than 300 works, 100 of them new. All of the works are reproduced in high-quality prints that vividly illustrate the color and luminosity of his art. Essays by Attilia Dorigato, Jean Luc Olivié, Susanne K. Franz, William Warmus, and Rosa Barovier Mentasti accompany the plates.

by Attila Dorigato (Author), Janet Koplos (Author), Jean-Luc Olivie (Author), Jennifer Opie (Author), Rosa Barovier Mentasti (Author)
The 'new Murano', represented by the glass artists Cristiano Bianchin, Yoichi Ohira and Laura de Santillana, all of whom work in Murano, is attracting attention by widening the range of traditional techniques, forms and styles. All three artists have their own distinctive ideas on working with glass so their pieces are some of the most exciting studio glass being produced anywhere in the world. Cristiano Bianchin began his career as an artist with the vivid colours once so typical of Murano glass. By now, however, he is working in black-and-white and especially in shades of brown. He is adept at working in touches of colour and deploying transparency to emphasise earthy tones. Laura de Santillana, a granddaughter of Paolo Venini, founder of the celebrated Venini Venetian art glass works, is one of the few women glass designers in Murano. Her works are notable for striking sculptural forms and colours reminiscent of 1950s Colour Field painting. Born in Japan, Yoichi Ohara has been living and working in Murano for more than thirty years. The synthesis he has achieved of traditional Japanese aesthetics and Murano art glass makes him one of the most important contemporary creators of art glass worldwide.

Wendell Castle:Rockin'

Published on the occasion of the exhibition, Wendell Castle: Rockin' at Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, NY. May 6 - June 26, 2010. Includes texts by Robert C. Morgan, Barry Friedman and artist interview with Emily Evans Eerdmans.

Michael Glancy:Infinite Obsessions

by Barry Friedman (Editor)Michael Glancy is widely recognised as a prominent innovator in the field of studio glass. After studying with the critically acclaimed glass artist Dale Chihuly, he found his own artistic personality by combining different techniques: Glancy works with cold glass, which he sculpts through sandblasting and acid-cutting, and then coats with electroformed copper, silver or gold. Elegant and exceptional in their quality and beauty, Michael Glancy's sculptures reveal the artist's pursuit for perfection; fascinated by microscopic landscapes, Glancy translates cellular structures and geological stratifications into impressive sculptural objects. The lattice patterns etched into the glass suggest latitude and longitude, while the organic and undulating vessels allude to topography. Glancy's own very specific mode of presentation - that of a base of sheet glass which shadows or connects to the standing vessel - has become his signature style. It is as if the two-dimensional world of the sheet of glass has developed and warped itself into a three-dimensional object. This transformation together with his scientific interests, positions his work between alchemy - at the intersection of physics and metaphysics - and conceptual art. Michael Glancy's work is represented in numerous international museums and collections. Since 1982 he has taught and worked at the Rhode Island School of Design.